The Royal Liverpool Hospital “apologised unreservedly” to the patient for the incident they have described as a case of “wrong site surgery”

Blunder: A patient was wrongly given a vasectomy but it can't be reversed

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A man mistakenly given a vasectomy after going into hospital for a minor operation has been told the error cannot be reversed.

The patient was the victim of a “never event” – a medical mistake that should never happen - which is set to land him over £100,000 in compensation.

Now it has emerged the surgeon who performed the blundering operation has been sacked.

The victim will not be able to have children naturally, although he could try and become a father using IVF techniques.

The Royal Liverpool Hospital “apologised unreservedly” to the patient for the incident they have described as a case of “wrong site surgery”.

The urology department at Broadgreen hospital has now admitted the vasectomy error was just one of five botched operations in 12 months.

That included a swab being left inside a patient.

Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital in Broadgreen

A vasectomy is a surgical procedure in which the tubes that carry sperm from a man’s testicles to the penis are cut, blocked or sealed. In most cases, it is more than 99% effective.

Ian Cohen said: “This is a truly shocking and worrying case. From what we know there has been a catastrophic breakdown in procedure, as simple checks designed to ensure the correct operation is carried out on the right patient seem to have failed.

“If a 25-year-old who wants a family is told he won’t be able to father children, it will be devastating.”

Unison bosses have blamed the mistake on continuing staff cutbacks which they say has put pressure on existing employees.

The Royal Liverpool Hospital said they had only one 'never event' since 2011.

Dr Peter Williams, medical director at Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “In the last 12 months, three serious incidents and two never events occurred in our urology department and these were reported to the appropriate bodies.

"We are still in the process of investigating some of these incidents, including looking at how to improve the processes and systems in place and are taking appropriate action."